2011 Formula One Monaco Grand Prix

[James Chant]

All quoted times are GMT +1 / BST
Local time is 1 hour ahead of quoted times (9am quoted is 10am local)

Thursday 26th May

Practice 1: 09:00 - 10:30

1 - S. Vettel 1:16.619
2 - F. Alonso 1:16.732
3 - N. Rosberg 1:17.139
​

Practice 2: 13:00 - 14:30

1 - F. Alonso 1:15.123
2 - L. Hamilton 1:15.228
3 - N. Rosberg 1:15.321
​

Friday 27th May
No Racing Activity!

Saturday 28st May

Practice 3: 10:00 - 11:00

1 -
2 -
3 -
​

Qualifying: 13:00 - 14:00

1 -
2 -
3 -
​

Sunday 29th May

Race: 13:00

1 -
2 -
3 -
​

 

[Chris Jenkins]

Interesting first session.
Webber's gearbox issue, resulting in no timed laps.
Schumacher binning it into the tyre wall on turn 1.
Ferrari showing some good pace.

 

[James Chant]

Vettel Fastest after P1 at Monaco

A pointy finger picture for all those who love and hate this man's index finger.

Sebastien Vettel once again was setting the pace this morning at the Monte Carlo circuit. Fernando Alonso showed promising Ferrari progress when he finished 2nd fastest, followed closely by Nico Rosberg's Mercedes, and the Brazilian Felipe Massa 4th.

British followers may be disappointed to see Lewis' and Jenson's McLarens only in 5th and 6th places, albeit only seven and nine tenths off the pace.

The Force Indias were the fastest through the speed trap, Adrian Sutil clocking 280.8 km/h, with team tame Paul Di Resta just 0.5 km/h behind.

Elsewhere, Mark Webber did not set a time after a gearbox problem limited his Red Bull's running time. Michael Schumacher surprised everyone by crashing at turn 1 on a flying lap. Both Lotuses finshed ahead of both HRTS, both Virgins, and the Force India of Di Resta.

The session was red flagged with around 40 mins to go due to a strange patch of water growing on the start finish straight. Once the officials were happy, the session continued.

Full results here

 

[Chris Jenkins]

Alonso's looking good for P1 in FP2.
Only 0.68 off the lap record

 

[Diego Lopez]

yup Alonso was flying in FP2...he just needs to keep it together til Q3 and not wreck his car liek last year.

my guess is that Vettel or Alonso will have Pole followed by the Maclarens unless somethign dramatic happens in between. But Alonso has got a decent start in Spain...hopefully he can pull it off in Monaco and maybe see another 2010 Singapore race like in Monaco battle between Vettel and Alonso.

Also i cant wait to see the FIA=Ferrari International Assistance tossed around the forums if Alonso gets a podium or something of that nature happens. ^^

 

[James Chant]

Alonso Fastest in Practice 2

Fernando Alonso was fastest in this afternoon with a time of 1:15.123. This time, Hamilton was 2nd fastest just .105 of a second behind the Spaniard. Nico Rosberg once again was in the top 3.

Sebastien Vettel was pipped to 4th fastest by Jenson Button 's McLaren. Just 6 tenths of a second seperated the top 6. Mark Webber was 8th fastest, but he didn't get in a good run during P1 this morning.


Sutil once again was fastest in the speed trap, and a surprise in that the slowest man through the speed trap was Sebastien Vettel!

Lotus once again were fastest of the newer teams, Kovaleinen 3.1 secs off the leader, half a second down on the nearest car ahead of him - the Torro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari. Liuzzi did not set a time in his HRT.

Towards the end of the session, Vitaly Petrov lost control of his car in the braking zone for the chicane, taking off his front wing with the armco barrier.

Full results here

 

[Diego Lopez]

well my gut feeling is that Red Bull is holding back its power...and hopefully im wrong.

 

[James Chant]

Im not sure... it's the first time this season on these tyre compounds, and Red Bulls are strongest in high speed corners, of which Monaco has few.

 

[ufunacaoenn]

This is just practice, I can do the slowest times here to just save tires and then Bang put one hot lap on Q3 and take pole.

 

[Chris Jenkins]

Also i cant wait to see the FIA=Ferrari International Assistance tossed around the forums if Alonso gets a podium or something of that nature happens. ^^

I don't think a podium at Monaco would spark any 'FIA' talk, purely because the FIA hasn't made any changes yet.
I really don't think the Red Bulls were going for speed in FP2 though. They were uncharacteristically low in the order.

 

[James Chant]

Ferrari on top after Practice 3

Fernando Alonso was fastest again in this morning final practice session ahead of Qualifying. He set a time of 1:14.433. Felipe Massa managed 3rd fastest with a 1:15.024, with Jenson Button splitting the two Italian cars with his McLaren.

The session was red flagged after 9 minutes as Nico Rosberg lost control of his car on the exit of the tunnel, smashing into the wall and ending his session after only 3 laps, giving the Mercedes crew another morning of frantic repair work.

Red Bull drivers Vettel and Webber finsihed the session in 4th and 8th places, sparking debate as to whether they are holding back or whether they are really struggling for pace.

Michael Schumacher fans will be pleased to see him 5th in the standings (keep believing).

Virgin Racing seemed to be showing some progress by wedging both their cars between the two Lotuses, and HRT kicking their heels at the back.
[video=dailymotion;xiynt4]http://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/xiynt4?width=560[/video]

 

[David Jundt]

...and Liuzzi crashed his car again, even Karthy can do better.

But he has got a nice helmet, I must admit.

 

[James Chant]

Perez just made a mess of his car - same as Rosbergs crash but he hit the barriers... ouch

 

[Scott Webber]

oh dear, i hope Perez is ok, still stuck in the car 5 minutes after the crash.

Exiting out of the Tunnel is very dangerous

 

[David Jundt]

Wendlinger crash...

He was too far left and got sideways when steering. He had a 19.5 in S1, apparently awesomly fast

I hope he's not badly injured...

 

[James Chant]

button 2005, (hospitalised), coulthard 08/09 missed barrier by inches, many people. Surely they should smooth those bumps out if thats the cause of these nasty accidents

edit: just showed coulthards on tv lol

 

[Xosé Estrada]

Vamos checo ánimo :'(

 

[Scott Webber]

coulthard was lucky with his Accident so was Nico today..... They need to sort this bump out, look at the Damage.


There has been alot of Accidents there,ofcourse they do say the track will Test the Driver's the balance isn't correct on Sergio's car, problem start near the Exit of the tunnel.

 

[Yann Laprevotte]

button 2005

2003.

 

[David Jundt]

Perez seems to be talking and wants to race badly, having a headache.

If that's true, I am relieved.